Protesters gather south of the Ambos Nogales border fence on Oct. 9 night to commemorate 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, who was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent 10 years ago.
Nogales City Councilman Saulo Bonilla, left, points at Councilwoman Liza Montiel while berating her at a Nov. 2 meeting after she solicited community feedback on her personal Facebook page.
Before heading out to vote in the Nov. 8 general election, Elsa Rodriguez of Nogales studied her options and made a worksheet to follow as she filled out her ballot.
County Recorder Suzanne "Suzie" Sainz notified the County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 22 that she would resign effective Dec. 31 with two years remaining in her current elected term.
Protesters gather south of the Ambos Nogales border fence on Oct. 9 night to commemorate 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, who was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent 10 years ago.
Photo by Angela Gervasi
People gathered on both sides of Ambos Nogales to commemorate the killing of 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, who was shot 10 times by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a rock-throwing incident at the border fence in 2012.
It took investigative reporting, a federal indictment, two federal criminal trials and a civil suit for Elena Rodríguez’s family and the public to finally learn the details of what happened that night, though federal prosecutors were ultimately unable to secure a conviction against the agent who shot him.
Among those who gathered for the 10-year-anniversary included Marisol García, a who survived being shot in the head by a Border Patrol agent as she and other undocumented migrants traveled in an SUV on a Nogales street in June 2021. More than a year after that incident, Garcia still didn’t know why she was shot; federal officials have declined to provide her or the public with any details of their investigation into the case.
The government has also declined to clarify two other shooting incidents in and around Nogales: One involving a 21-year-old U.S. citizen who survived being shot in the head by a CBP officer at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in February 2019, the other involving a 25-year-old undocumented migrant who was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in September 2020 after he allegedly stabbed the agent.
A company already working to shore up part of a leaky cross-border sewage pipe in Santa Cruz County was awarded a contract to fix the entire line.
The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) announced that it had awarded a $13.8 million contract to Missouri-based SAK Construction to complete the final two phases of the five-phase project that the company began in January.
The work involves repairing the so-called International Outfall Interceptor (IOI) by inserting a resin-coated felt liner into the pipeline and curing it in place with hot water. The 9.9-mile-long IOI carries approximately 12 million gallons of wastewater each day from Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Ariz. to a treatment plant in Rio Rico.
The entire project is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2024, the USIBWC said.
A pilot and passenger suffered only superficial injuries after a small plane crashed and caught fire at the Nogales International Airport.
The crash involved a Beech V35B single-engine aircraft that took off from the airport, then experienced problems and crashed when the pilot tried to land again.
Fifty-seven local businesses, 13 nonprofits and six artists were promised forgivable loans through a county-sponsored effort meant to offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Santa Cruz County government received about $9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, a federal stimulus package that filtered
COVID relief funds to states, and ultimately to counties and cities. The county allocated $1 million of the ARPA reserve to a forgivable loan program administered by Chicanos por la Causa.
CPLC staff said they administered the awards based on certain criteria – for example, businesses were considered eligible if they had 50 or fewer employees. Entrepreneurs earning no more than 300 percent of federal poverty guidelines also received preference, according to the organization’s fact sheet.
The Arizona Board of Education issued school letter grades for the first time since before the pandemic, and all of the schools in Santa Cruz County that were evaluated during the 2021-22 academic year received either an A or B.
It was a markedly better performance than the last time school grades were published in 2019, when eight local schools received a C, one was given a D and another got an F.
The good grades also offered a source of optimism amid recent studies showing student test scores slipping around the state and nation in the wake of the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Nogales City Councilman Saulo Bonilla, left, points at Councilwoman Liza Montiel while berating her at a Nov. 2 meeting after she solicited community feedback on her personal Facebook page.
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After Nogales Councilwoman Liza Montiel posted to her personal Facebook page, asking residents for suggestions on how the city should spend $3.35 million in federal COVID-relief funds, Councilman Saulo Bonilla berated her for six straight minutes at a council meeting.
“Didn’t the people vote for us?” Bonilla asked Montiel at one point. “Isn’t that the way they do their input?”
Bonilla’s aggressive posture – he pointed his finger at Montiel as he lectured her – sparked immediate outrage in the community, and an online petition demanding that he apologize quickly garnered hundreds of signatures.
Before heading out to vote in the Nov. 8 general election, Elsa Rodriguez of Nogales studied her options and made a worksheet to follow as she filled out her ballot.
Photo by Jonathan Clark
Election Day 2022 saw local voters make their preferences known in a number of competitive races.
Incumbent Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink was elected to his third four-year term on the bench, handily defeating challenger Jose Luis Castillo.
In the race for three seats on the Nogales City Council, Hector Bojorquez was the top vote-getter, followed by John Doyle. The third spot came down to two incumbents: Esther Melendez-Lopez and Jose “Joe” Diaz. In the end, Melendez-Lopez won by 32 votes, a large enough margin to avoid a mandatory recount.
Two seats were up for election on the Nogales Unified School District governing board, and they were won by incumbent Robert Rojas and newcomer Patty Muñozcano.
The Tubac Fire District Governing Board also had two seats on the ballot, and they were won by incumbent Herb Wisdom and newcomer Sandy Johnson. The third-place finisher, Mindy Maddock, trailed Jonson by just 39 votes, but it was still enough to avoid a recount.
Voter turnout for the general election in Santa Cruz County was 45.6 percent, well below the statewide figure of 65.6 percent. It was also down from the 48.4 percent county voter participation figure for the previous midterm election in 2018.
Local governments around the United States used the millions of dollars they received in federal COVID-19 funds to support affordable housing, aid small businesses, extend broadband access, expand emergency mental health services and more.
The Nogales mayor and council, however, were never able to agree on any community-centered plans for their funds. So during a last-minute special meeting on Nov. 16, they voted 5-2 to simply funnel the last remaining $3.35 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds into municipal operations.
By comparison, the Santa Cruz County government used chunks of its ARPA money to roll out a vaccine incentive program for employees, an internet expansion initiative, and a variety of forgivable loans and grants for local businesses and nonprofits.
In total, the City of Nogales received more than $6.7 million from ARPA. The first installation – which also totaled about $3.35 million – was used to pay down police and fire pensions. The city also used the $2.3 million in federal CARES Act pandemic relief funds it received in 2020 to pay down police and fire pensions.
County Recorder Suzanne "Suzie" Sainz notified the County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 22 that she would resign effective Dec. 31 with two years remaining in her current elected term.
Photo by Angela Gervasi
Long-time County Recorder Suzanne “Suzie” Sainz submitted her letter of retirement to the board of supervisors, with her resignation to take effect Dec. 31.
Sainz, who had held the office since 1995, had two years remaining in her current elected term. The supervisors would decide in December who to appoint to complete the term.
Asked about her decision, Sainz told the NI: “I just felt that I’m still young and I can still do things, and I have things that I want to do. So I thought this would be an appropriate time to do it.”
The Santa Cruz County Health Services Department added 112 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to its tallies during the week ending Wednesday, Nov. 23.
It was the first time in five months that the weekly case count in Santa Cruz County reached triple digits.
During the previous week ending Wednesday, the local health department logged 75 new cases among community members. The week before that, it was 42.
A week later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified Santa Cruz County as having “high” COVID-19 community levels. The CDC recommends that people in counties with that designation use masks in public indoor settings.
Firefighters try to douse a blaze at the corner of Morley Avenue and Court Street on Nov. 28
Photo by Jonathan Clark
A dilapidated former store in downtown Nogales caught fire while a demolition crew was working inside, authorities said. The blaze destroyed the building and two neighboring structures as well.
According to a statement from Nogales Fire Chief Jeff Sargent, the building where the fire started had suffered a partial roof collapse and was “in an abatement process with the City of Nogales.”
The crew that was working inside the structure was “using a cut-off wheel when the fire started,” Sargent said in a statement. Cut-off wheels are grinding tools used to cut through metal and can produce showers of sparks.
Even so, Fire Marshal Jeff Polcari said at that time that the cause of the blaze was still to be officially determined.
Demonstrators gather outside Nogales City Hall on Dec. 7 to protest the behavior by some elected members of the municipal government.
Photo by Angela Gervasi
A group of mostly women gathered outside City Hall to protest recent tense encounters in the Nogales City Council chambers.
“Bonilla, you’re a bully,” one protester’s sign read, referring to City Councilman Saulo Bonilla.
At a Nov. 2 meeting, Bonilla had publicly reprimanded Councilwoman Liza Montiel after she suggested city staff gather input from residents on how to spend federal
COVID-19 relief funds. The outburst drew criticism from various Nogales residents, some of whom asserted Bonilla’s attack had been not only personal, but gender-based.
During the call to the public at the council meeting held on Dec. 7, Nogales resident Jessica Mendez warned that amid the personal attacks, the city was continuing to suffer economic deterioration.
“Instead of choosing to address what is important and needed for our city ... certain city council members have chosen to have animosity against other city council members,” Mendez said.
At a nearly two-hour board meeting and much deliberation, the governing board of the Tubac Fire District voted to accept the resignation of one of its members, Bill Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick, who had served on the TFD board for a decade, announced his resignation on Dec. 8. But some board members, particularly chair Mary Dahl, wanted him to remain as an active, voting member for a few more weeks – long enough to help choose his successor. Others argued that state bylaws made his resignation immediate.
In addition, some members of the public wanted the board to go ahead and appoint Mindy Maddock, who narrowly missed being elected in November, to fill Kirkpatrick’s seat. But in the end, they voted to solicit applications and appoint a new member during a special meeting on Jan. 11.
Ana “Anita” Moreno, a realtor and former title and escrow officer with Nogales roots, was appointed by the board of supervisors to serve as Santa Cruz County’s next recorder, starting Jan. 1, 2023.
Moreno emerged from a pool of five finalists to complete the final two years of former Recorder Suzanne “Suzie” Sainz, who retired effective Dec. 31, 2022.
Moreno nearly defeated Sainz in the 2020 Democratic primary election, ultimately losing by just 96 votes.
